Hi,
this morning was driving to work and noticed weird sound coming from the passenger side. SO i pulled over and seen there was a water on the passenger side floor. There was water dripping down from above. It seems the dripping isnt a constant thing and worsens if I put the heater on to 3 or 4. When off or on 1 or 2 it doesnt seem to be happening. The first thing I thought of was heater matrix and this is only because my brother had similar problems with a Nissan Primera. I checked the coolant bottle under the bonnet and is full.
Any ideas?
Could it be something related to:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=4&t=68...2
|
Also,
could heavy rain have anything to do with it as was driving on the motorway yesterday and it was absolutely lashing down?
|
Take the plastic cover off which seals the plenum chamber under the bonnet at the base of the windscreen - just pull out the sealing rubber to release it. If the plenum chamber has water in it,you have blocked drains - one under the battery tray and one under the brake servo. Clean it all out and discard the rubber bungs. Check and change the pollen filter housing seals as necessary.
One of VAG's finest efforts - if this problem is neglected the electronics and wiring on the floor get wrecked.
If the matrix is leaking you will lose coolant and smell antifreeze - it's unmistakable.
659.
|
Pity I dont have a clue as to what this means but will get someone who knows about cars to look at it later on today, I hope!
Also, the coolant bottle is full so dont think am losing any but cannot smell antifreeze either
Edited by maximusimo on 24/11/2008 at 14:55
|
Good plan. If these drains are blocked, take action asap - neglect is expensive. When you have finished, check under the rear passenger side carpets for water.
659.
|
|
The reason for the bungs which have a soft mounth to when is that it avoids air being drawn in from the engine bay and the plemum chamber is the source of air for the A/C and heating. The battery will have to come out to clean out the bung and there is one under the middle of the brake servo. clean all the leaves and debris from the chamber including the sides, behind the ECU electonics box and from behind the pollen filter. Do not leave this job and Convenience Control Unit is under the passenger floor and water in there can cost you £300 plus labout plus trying time for the carpets. If the pollen filter is wet then that is probably where the water got in but the pollen filter housing is prone to seal failure againt the body work and to get that off you have to remeove the plastic trim attached the bottom on the windscreen. Great care and knowledge is required to remove this as you can cuase the windscreen to crack. This is much discussed on www.vwaudiforum.co.uk, type Plenum Chamber into the search engine after selecting your model. Regards Peter
|
|
I take it this all contributes to the steamy windows which i am now experiencing.
|
|
Yes Correct. It is now 5 pm so have you had if sorted. If not do you park overnight outside, if so check the wether corcats as this leak can go from a dribble on the mat to a remortgage to pay for the damage. Audi charge up to £700 to do this job. OOOCH Regards Peter
|
Havent had a chance but a mechanic near me will look after it this evening. Just off the phone to VW dealer near me and because, something i had previously failed to mention, the windows go down sometimes after i unlock the doors with the key, there could be more water than I think where the Control Unit is even if the carpet doesnt indicate this. I fear this could end up costing me a fortune!
And yes I do park outside overnight but will put something down to soak any possible futher leaks.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 24/11/2008 at 18:23
|
I would love to have a drink with the engineer who thought it was a good idea to put an electronic unit at the lowest point of the car.
It would be an interesting conversation.
|
|
I just read on www.vwaudiforum.co.uk about the brake pedal 'stiffening', i could nearly swear this happened to me yesterday but took no notice off it as happened only once. Will get it looked at this evening and hopefiully have a positive update later on or in the morning
|
|
The brake stiffening can be water leaking into the servo unit as it have correct whilst say in water and the windows could be water in the CCM. The CCM lives in a black abs tough plastic box and the CCM deeds to be removed and dried out. All cable and connectors inspected for corrosion, When it is all dry replace the CCM and reconnect the battery, in a lot of cases the CCM survives I have done this quite a few times now on Passats and Audi A6's. Other signs are interior lights not behaving and alarm going off for no reason. Regards Peter
Edited by Peter D on 24/11/2008 at 17:44
|
|
Sorry bit rushed. 'servo unit and it has corroded whilst sitting in the water' Regards Peter
|
Guys,
got the pollen filter replaced last night and I seen the old one - full of crap and totally saturated with water. Under the battery was full of water and crap which couldn?t get away quick enough as the drain holes were blocked up.
Steamy windows problem and water leaking onto passenger floor gone - would still need to look into getting someone to look at the CCM and servo unit?
Is this under the passenger floor?
|
|
Yes. It's in the front passenger footwell. Access is by lifting the carpet.
|
|
And i suppose this can only be achieved by removing the passenger seat which is where a high labour cost could come in?
|
|
You remove the small cover and the screw it hides and remove the side kick panel, gently lift the door sill trim and ease the carpet out. Have sone 4 innh blockes or wood ready and a length of 1 1/2 by 1/2 about 14 inch long. Lengthly list the carpet and use the blockes to hold it up, the sound insulation is normally quite stiff but if there is water down there then it will be soft and soggy. Eventually use the length of woot to hold the carpet up to allow you access the the CCM container. Regards Peter
|
>>I would love to have a drink with the engineer ...
Where would you have sited the ECU?
|
This problem has been noted many times in the forum.
Expensive to sort out- as said £700 plus. A disgraceful piece of design failure. I was fairly lucky in that VW paid up for half the cost.
Hope that a simple dry out sorts your misting up.
|
|
Further. There is a recess in the floor pan then takes the heater duct to the the rear passenger foot well and ofter water form the front appear at that duct. This channel continuse to the rear outsie of the rear foot well and there is a large sealing bung that is fitted from the inside but can with care be removed form the outside to allow any water to drain out, ideally the front of the car should be raised. If there is water in there then you may wish to lift the rear carpets and dry them out. The last one I did took 15/16 hours of two 1kw heater blowing under the carpets. safety is an issue here so do not leave the car unmanned and make sure the heaters are secured and not too close to the carpet. Regards Peter
|
At the highest point in the boot, under the parcel shelf.
659.
(Reply to NC on convenience unit siting).
Edited by 659FBE on 26/11/2008 at 15:21
|
>>At the highest point in the boot, under the parcel shelf.
That's not bad - although the unit and wiring would have to prevented from luggage impacts and mis-loading impacts.
As you know, my point was that there aren't many really good locations for ECUs that don't involve running miles of extra cabling around the car, locating the unit in a hot, wet, or mechanically unsuitable positions. It needs to be far enough out of the way to avoid being damaged, but easy enough to access to be removed, and the wiring to be tested.
Under the seat is a good location for ECUs, and has been used by many vehicles over the years - without the systematic failure of the plenum drains on these cars, there wouldn't be a problem.
|
With CANbus I thought you'd avoid having to run extra cables as the busses run throughout the car.
You couldn't fit this unit under the parcel shelf of a Passat though... what about the estate?
|
>>With CANbus I thought you'd avoid having to run extra cables as the busses run throughout the car.
Yes, CAN is used to allow module to speak unto module. I don't know wheter there are individual door modules in each door, or, whether the convenience module directly commands relatively dumb actuators like the central locking and window motors.
|
|
But if it were not for the poor design of the pollen filter that lets the water in, the location of the module would not be a problem. There's still wiring that would be affected.
|
Even our friends on the other side of the North Sea can't buck the laws of gravity. Putting electronics on the floor of a car is stupid. Even if their execution of the design were perfect, people will park in the rain with the windows open, drive through floods etc. etc.
It's just plain stupid and has cost some people a great deal of money and trouble.
659.
|
|
Just a thought, but on my Passat you can wind the windows up or down by putting the key in the door lock and turning it, so it seems unlikely to be a fault in the CCM.
|
|
DH, same applies to most cars. Mine lets you do that with the remote too.
|
|
